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GameHole Con

Lou Anders

• 5 min read
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Lou in front of the convention center beneath a big banner that says Welcome to GameHole Con
Look where I've been!

Last week, I attended Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin. This was my second time attending, and like the first, it was an absolute blast.

Although GameHole bills itself as "one of the largest tabletop gaming conventions there is," large in this context means something over six thousand attendees, not the seventy thousand plus of Gen Con.

The result is a much more intimate convention, but one with a surprisingly high number of industry folks. It's also got a wide, wide range of RPGs offered in the events and a strong dealers room.

As with last year, I splurged for the VIG Badge, which comes with a dinner at the Free House Pub owned by convention director Alex Kammer. This is a wonderful chance to mingle with all the various designers, and, of course, to go upstairs to the actual GameHole, which is practically a museum of RPG history.

Shelf after shelf of D&D books and boxed sets from all editions, some in their original shrink wrapping
The RPG shelves inside the GameHole
A sloped wooden ceiling holds Ed Greenwood's original handdrawn map of the forgotten realms in a frame. A mind flayer and a dragon head is visible to the left and a gothic chandelier hangs in the center.
Ed Greenwood's original Forgotten Realms map

The convention kicked off bright and early Thursday morning. I like to use conventions to play games I haven't played yet or don't play often, so this year I checked out Pendragon, Fabula Ultima, Traveller, Wildsea, and Draw Steel. They were all lots of fun. I've bought Pendragon materials before but not run it, and, as with Gen Con, my Pendragon session was probably the most fun game I played, so naturally I bought more books. The others all had fascinating mechanics and things to recommend. I was tempted to pick up Fabula Ultima and Wildsea, but I held off and instead got, in addition to the aforementioned more Pendragon, a lot of Coriolis: the Great Dark.

Four people sitting at a table playing Pendragon. My character sheet is in the foreground and the GM is behind a colorful screen.
GM Ann running the Pendragon game. Coincidentally, she also ran the game I played at Gen Con earlier this year. Ann is fantastic!

I only played two D&D games. One was part of GameHole's own organized play program, Wardens of the Eastern Marches. This was "Envoys of the Future Queen," written and run by my friend Andrew Bishkinskyi. Andrew is a wonderful designer and GM, and his table was a lot of fun.

Andrew Bishkinskyi standing on the right over a wooden GM's screen. Three other players visible, with dice and minis on a table.
Andrew Bishkinskyi presiding over the adventure he wrote for Wardens

The other D&G game I played was part of the Legends of Greyhawk organized play program, in this case "Whispers from the Well of Wishes," set in the Realms of Ferrond and run by the designer Eric Menge. Eric's energy and vast knowledge of Greyhawk made this a fantastic session.

Eric Menge in baseball cap and red dragon scaled shirt behind his DM screen.
Eric is one of the most animated GMs I've ever had.

My gaming concluded Saturday night with a private game of Draw Steel, run by Teos Abadía, cohost of Mastering Dungeons. This is a system I've been curious about, and there was no one better to take us through a preview than Teos, as he is the lead designer of the upcoming Draw Steel adventure, Crack the Sun.

A table in the open gaming area, with two of the players to either side of the GM. Dice and tokens on the table.
Left to Right: Mike Shea, Teos Abadía, and Alan Tucker

As fun as the gaming was, half of what made GameHole such an exceptional experience for me this year was the people I got to spend time with.

After knowing him online for years, I got to actually talk with John Popson, owner of Effincool Miniatures, in person and get one of his famous Gamehole rings.

A beholder ring. Many eyes around the single eye and a wide mouth of teeth. My embarrassingly dry fingers are also in the picture.
Been wearing it ever since.

Thursday, a group of us from the Mastering Dungeons Discord went to Red for sushi. Wonderful people in a great atmosphere.

Seven folks seated in a private room on a polished red wood table eating sushi
An elegant setting with a great wait staff

Friday night, game designer extraordinaire James Introcaso filled in for Shawn Merwin and joined Teos Abadía for a live taping of Mastering Dungeons.

My new freind Lucas and I made a trip to Noble Knight Games on Saturday, which was one of the largest game stores I've ever seen. The warehouse behind the store is massive. It's not open to the public but computer kiosks in the store allow you to search the full inventory, and the staff will fetch anything you request.

I'm still a fan of Gen Con. I love the energy of that big convention. But GameHole Con is every bit as special as I previously heard it was, and I plan on being there every year from now on if I'm able. Great people, great games, great times.

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